Tips & Trends

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Tips & Trends

Thunderbird thought leaders spot trends before they are recognized as the next big thing. They see situations from a global perspective, asking the right questions and sharing their insights. Tips & Trends provides a sampling of these contributions.

Thunderbird for Good is looking for professional women to be part of the Women International Club Student Mentoring Program. Since fall 2012, over 39 female Thunderbird students have been mentored by other successful women as part of this student mentoring program. Thunderbird for Good has partnered with the club to recruit and train mentors.

Thunderbird’s Najafi Global Mindset Institute is offering a special 30% discount to those who register for our October GMI Certified Facilitators Workshop by Sept. 10! It’s a great time to become certified, as we now have 25,000 GMI-takers around the world, nearly 300 certified GMI facilitators, and 1,500 copies sold of our “Developing Your Global Mindset” handbook.

If you are an investor who wants to find early-stage, high-growth companies around the world — or you are an entrepreneur or know of one who needs investment — the Thunderbird Angel Network wants to hear from you.

Thunderbird Angel Network accredited investor members have invested millions of dollars in dozens of companies over the last five years and now want to go global. You can be a part of this exciting world of Angel Investing no matter where you are. Join us for our next meeting to learn more:

Successful companies change, evolve and innovate; this was the message Beth Comstock, chief marketing officer and senior vice president of GE, shared with Thunderbird students during her campus visit on April 8, 2014. Her talk, entitled GE: A Brand in Motion, sums up her message of how important advancement and perpetual change are for a brand. “To stand still is to die,” states Comstock.

Personal branding is identifying, clarifying and communicating what makes you unique. Storytelling, as a way to communicate information, is proven by brain research to have amazing impact, not only to captivate and engage audiences, but to increase memory. Using effective storytelling in a professional bio is a powerful way to make your personal brand come alive. Here are five things to consider.

Retired U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl has decades of experience as a public servant, but he spoke to Thunderbird graduates on a more personal level as commencement keynote speaker on Dec. 13, 2013. “No father or grandfather can resist giving advice,” he told the group of 197 graduates from 26 countries. Kyl, who received an honorary doctorate of international law from Thunderbird prior to his remarks, focused on five guiding principles for aspiring global leaders.

Simple is hard, Intel’s Vice President of Advertising and Digital Marketing Kevin Sellers told Thunderbird students during a campus visit Nov. 21, 2013. Sellers said the best brands have a simple message, which breaks through the competitive clutter. “The average consumer is hit with 5,000 messages a day,” Sellers said. “Great marketing is about simple and repeated.”

Not everyone likes sales or trusts salespeople, but the art of persuasion is an unavoidable part of corporate life. Project team members must sell ideas within their groups, vendors must sell products and services, and leaders must sell strategies for change. All this selling starts with the job application, when candidates must sell themselves to prospective employers. John Brambert, an executive coach with Trinity Performance Group, shared a three-pronged approach for students at Thunderbird School of Global Management on the eve of their 2013 campus career fair.

Teach: Brambert said memorable candidates do more than answer questions about their backgrounds. They deliver insights about industry trends, market challenges and best practices. They bring new ideas to the table and find appropriate ways to teach. They also look for opportunities to tell stories that show themselves as responsible, accountable, coachable, productive, flexible and cooperative. They approach the interview as a two-way conversation.

In June 2010 a group of innovative thinkers set out to create a new type of agency to deliver strategic and creative services using all the advantages of cloud-based computing. UP, the organization that emerged, has no offices or employees. Just high-powered collaboration and a growing list of satisfied clients. Here are five lessons we have learned about maximizing performance in the cloud.